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news
National Cycle Network sign © Simon MacMichael.jpgCouncil tells cyclist who complained about potholes on cycle route to fix them himself
A cyclist who complained to Oxfordshire County Council about potholes and overgrown vegetation on a cycle path was told to fix the problems himself – with a councillor even offering to pay for the materials to enable him to carry out the work.
Chris Waites, aged 30, told the Oxford Mail that the 1 kilometre stretch of path – described by the council as a “premium route” and forming part of National Cycle Network Route 5 – was more or less “one giant pothole.”
The section of the route in question runs from his home in Long Wittenham and Didcot and links the town – a key transport hub for commuters due to its rail service – to the Culham Science Park.
He said that in places, it is difficult to ride a bike down the path because it is so overgrown, and that he has noticed a drop in the number of commuters using it.
When he raised the issue with the council, he was told the path was not scheduled to be repaired until 2026, and he said that aa councillor had offered to pay £10,000 for gravel so he could carry out the works himself.
"I was told it is not anyone’s job to apply for the grants needed to fix it but if I wanted to do it myself they would pay for the materials.
“The gravel would be dropped off and I could get to work. But it’s not as if it’s the sort of job you can do with a few mates at the weekend.
"I'd imagine you would need a dumper truck and steam roller at least.
"I know they are pushing the big society these days but it's not just a matter of rolling up your sleeves and getting on with it, this is a serious job."
Mr Waites, who works at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, continued: “The planned resurfacing is still eight years away.
“It is meant to be one of the six priority cycle routes in the whole county, if they are not going to maintain this one, what hope is there for the rest?
“We know there is a finite amount of money and the roads are in need of investment but it wouldn't require much.
“If you were to cycle this way once, you would never do it again.
“It’s too overgrown for my daughter to use it regularly now which is really sad," he added.
Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Martin Crabtree told the Oxford Mail that workers had cut the grass and that the council would address the pothole issue as and when they needed repairing.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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14 comments
I would honestly take them up on the offer of the gravel. I highly doubt any councillor would give up any of their own money for anyone. I would call their bluff, so I could see them squirm.
If by some mirical they came through, just start hitting up social media and mainstream media about the absurdity of the repair in order to build up a work force. Throw a gravel party, might be surprised by who will show up!
I moved to Normandy last year, partly because the cyling here is so enjoyable. The roads are virtually empty and last weekend, on a 50 miler, I only noticed one pothole. The rural roads here all have well maintained ditches running alongside them to get water off the roads quickly, thus preventing a good deal of damage. The council dig them, mow them and keep them running freely. Must be cheaper in the long run.
Agreed... I am from South Oxon... Roads round here are the worst of anywhere I go by a long shot, not just potholes, but surface degradation.
A start would be to hold the utility cos and their contractors to account to replace surfaces properly when they dig them up and if they fail, to come back and do it again. Many potholes seem to arise out of shoddy work.
It's not just the cycle routes in Oxfordshire that are terrible.
The state of the roads is absolutely atrocious too. And after the kind of winter we've just had, I have seen the roads almost crumbling in front of my eyes. It's not just awful for cyclists, but for all road users (must be pretty terrifying for motorcycles).
The pothole filling that does happen cannot keep up, only seems to fill a tiny number of the holes on any stretch, and the road keeps on crumbling around the filled bits. Unfortunately, what is really needed is a vast amount of resurfacing throughout the county, which I just can't see happening.
As a point of comparison, I happened to cycle around some of the Wiltshire roads near Swindon over the weekend. With the exception of some really remote roads, the quality of the roads surface was vastly better than the Oxfordshire roads.
With the current H & S and blame culture, even if you were agreeable to doing your own repairs how would you stand if someone then got injured? Don't think I would risk it.
Presumably, it would be the owner of the route that would hold responsibility for it being safely repaired. If the council gets a third party to repair a route for them, they don't get to shift responsibility onto the third party (unless they can prove negligence).
Bring back Challenge Anneka.
Has he contacted Domino's Pizza?
#spraythecock needs to go viral.
And why do you think President Trump is so orange?
Are the Sustrans off-road paths owned by Sustrans or the council?
Sustrans only own approx 350 miles of the network. The rest is owned by local authorities, network rail, national trust etc. Most likely in this case it is land owned by local authority who have agreed with Sustrans to build it. Might be worth contacting Sustrans to lean on the council to sort it rather than stick rigidly to their schedule of repairs.
Have Sustrans piped up about this?
I haven't seen a response although addressing the state of the network is meant to be one of their current activities.
just spray paint a cock and the granny complaints will do the rest.